Good News in History, August 1

75 years ago today, Jerry Garcia, the founder of the Grateful Dead, was born in San Francisco. A son of musician parents, his distinctive guitar playing, unique for the fact that he lost his right middle finger as a child, earned Garcia the ranking of #13 in Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.” Also an artist, the nature-loving counter-culture leader was plagued by drug addiction and diabetes, and died at the age of 53 of a heart attack. (1942)

Besides the wildly popular Grateful Dead music, he played on over 50 studio albums the styles of which were eclectic and varied, including bluegrass, rock, folk, blues, country, jazz, electronic music, gospel, funk, and reggae. In 2015, Jerry Garcia’s wife, Manasha Garcia and their daughter, Keelin Garcia launched The Jerry Garcia Foundation, a nonprofit charity that supports for artistic, environmental, and humanitarian causes that were so dear to him.

MORE Good News on this Day:

Slavery was abolished in the British Empire (1834)

The first cable streetcar in San Francisco, invented by Andrew Hallidie, was tested on Clay Street Hill and commenced operation a month later, becoming a beloved aspect of the modern city (1873)

The Fulbright Program was signed into law, named for its advocate, Sen. J. William Fulbright, who wanted to provide scholarships to increase mutual understanding between the peoples of the United States and 144 other countries– and the program produces more Nobel Prize winners than any other academic program. (1946)

MTV began broadcasting in the United States airing its first video, “Video Killed The Radio Star” by the Buggles (1981)

On this day in 1941, the first Jeep was produced. The iconic 4-wheel drive vehicle was born out of wartime necessity, but over the decades became a beloved mode of transportation for outdoor recreation lovers, indelibly linked to freedom and adventure. Despite fiercely loyal fans, the car company changed hands many times, eventually ending up at Chrysler. (Photo by ToolManTimTaylor , CC)

And on this day in 1971, the groundbreaking Concert For Bangladesh was held at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Organized by George Harrison to aid victims of famine and war, the concert, which may have been the first all-star charity rock show, featured Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Leon Russell, Billy Preston, and Ravi Shankar. The triple album release hit No.1 in the UK and No.2 in the US and received the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The concert raised $243,418, which was given to UNICEF and by 1985, nearly $12 million had been raised from album sales–with proceeds from DVDs and CDs today continuing to benefit the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF.

COMMENTS

Great to hear good news!Thanks for putting up these good news summaries.

In addition I’d like to add that the British government of those times, actually paid all ownbers of slaves throughout the Empire for the value of the slaves, so they weren’t out of pocket when they were forced to free them.

I’d say it was the equivalent today of say the USA banning all petrol driven internal combustion engines within its global sphere of influence, and paying people to put in Biofuel replacements, or necessary accessories.

I am so heartily sick of having only bad news day after day in conventional sources. Whne I was a teenager we lived through thre Cuba Missile crisis, and that was Bad News, until it cleared up. Then the Cold War, and all those little wars going on everywhere around the world. But today, I think the world is actually far less dangerous for many people.

Take the 2nd world War, that was the same level of violence as the Twin Towers going down every 4 hours……….for 5 years 24/7 without a break.

Things are safer, and the world better with positive outcomes being worked on energetically by many many people. There are obviously still so many problems but now we are getting collectively organised to do something about it.

My pleasure to meet you today at the Panera bread store while you waiting for Shakespeare to appear in your daughter.

Regarding the Slavery issue, my “main man”, George Washington wrote “There is not a man living who more desires the abolition of slavery, but it must be done with gradual, peaceful means through legislation.”

An executice edict, or an Emancipation Proclamation, would not really work. 100 years later the Civil Rights Act – legislation – finally did what the EP could not do, reflect the will of We the People.

If every slave holder had followed GW’s example of emancipating their slaves in their will, then by a.d. 1840, or certainly by a.d. 1860, most if not all the slaves would have been freed in a gradual, peaceful means that would have allowed assimilation into the economy.

With Dr. William Allen of Michigan State back in a.d. 1999, we published an article about GW as the Man for the Millenniums, with a bit over a page of the five covering the true story of GW and Slavery, one not conveyed by most historians,

Another good story is about Quaker John Woolman. This one man made it his mission, his Christian mission, to go to all the Quaker communities from Mass. to GA, to persuade them to abandon slavery, and thereby made the Quaker denomination anti-slavery. The effect of ONE MAN with a VISION and a MIssion.

In Jefferson’s early draft of the Declaration were words blaming the King for slavery. I have those words as the opening scene of a play I wrote and performed one scene at Regent University Theater along with their Colonial Christmas premiere in a.d. 2003. My play was “A Revolutionary Christmas”. You can get a glimpse of that, and America’s first Statue of Liberty, by going deep in my http://www.WashingtonLIVES.us blog to December a.d. 2003.

Finally, I read someplace (looking for the citation) that Wilberforce was inspired to work to abolish slavery in the British Empire by Article I, Section 9 of this Constitution for the United States of America, that was the compromise

Our Constitution for the United States of America was the first National charter in the history of Man to place a limit on slavery. There is reason to consider that the Founding Fathers believed that if they could abolish the IMPORTATION of slaves, in time the INSTITUTION of slavery would dissolve. The invention of the Cotton Gin in a.d. 1792 created “King Cotton” that again made slavery profitable in cotton growing regions so slavery was continued beyond what the Founding Fathers could foresee.

For America’s future (building up on our past),

James Renwick Manship, Sr.

aka George Washington LIVES!

P.S. I have done Home School conventions in VA a few times, in Alabame and Idaho.